Children's Home run by Phoenix Children’s Homes Limited in Torbay

Inspection report for children's home: 2610709 1 Registered provider: Phoenix Children's Homes Limited

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Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children's home

This home is owned by a private provider. It provides care for up to 2 children who may have social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children's home

At the time of inspection, one child was living in the home. They were involved with the inspection.

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Information about this children's home

The manager registered with Ofsted in July 2025 and is suitably qualified.

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Information about this children's home

Staff in the home are referred to as adults; this is reflected in the report.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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good

How well children and young people are helped and protected good

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good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers good

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good

The children's home provides effective services that meet the requirements for good.

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: requires improvement to be good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children's home: 2610709 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

13/05/2025 Full Requires improvement to be good 07/05/2024 Full Good 14/11/2023 Full Requires improvement to be good 01/08/2023 Full Inadequate Inspection report for children's home: 2610709 3

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Summary of findings

The team work hard to plan for, and support children with moves both into and out of the home. Close relationships have been built between the adults and children. Children benefit from having consistent routines and the manager ensures that the team has clear approaches to supporting them. Children say that they feel safe.

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Summary of findings

Safeguarding practice meets children’s needs, with adults and managers understanding risks and responding appropriately. The team understand patterns and trends well, so that they can help to prevent or disrupt difficult incidents. The manager seeks feedback and uses this to make improvements. The use of internal therapists benefits both adults and children to feel safe and helps adults understand children’s needs at a greater depth.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have trusted relationships with the team. The child currently living in the home told the inspector that it is 'lush' and that they like their home. The child rated their home as '10 out of 10'.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The team work hard to ensure children move on in a considered and planned way with a clear focus on supporting children to progress with their independence.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Lots of activities are on offer for children. They enjoy swimming and trips to local parks. A short holiday is planned to a holiday camp in a couple of weeks' time.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children benefit from having good routines and structure to their days. For example, the team has a consistent approach to supporting children with getting up, school-day routines and bedtime routines.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The team support the children's health needs well. Children are registered with all relevant health professionals. The team manage and monitor children’s specific healthcare needs in a sensitive way. This monitoring helps the team to be proactive towards children’s changing needs.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home is welcoming and homely. Children put their own stamp on the home, for example with the addition of a trampoline and their personal items. Photographs of the child and adults are proudly on display. However, knives are locked away without any specific need. This does not help the child to develop skills of independence.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are supported to attend school or college. This promotes their level of attendance and positive educational outcomes. Adults develop good relationships with children's schoolteachers to support children to settle and attend. Inspection report for children's home: 2610709 4

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

Both children say that they feel safe. Adults understand the risks to children. Managers spend time gathering information before children move into the home to understand risks fully. This means that the team understands children’s histories and previous patterns of risk-taking behaviour.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

Plans and guidance give adults clear steps to take, and these are followed by the team. Risk assessments and safety plans are thorough. Different scenarios are considered and planned for. These plans have been effective in practice.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

When one child has been missing from the home, adults have taken swift action and are well-prepared. Relationships are built with children’s friends and parents to disrupt or prevent children from going missing. Adults have known where to look for the children because of the clear guidance and information gathered beforehand. This has enabled the adults to find the children quickly. Work with other agencies has also been effective at putting strategies into place to prevent further incidents.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

Children are supported to take age-appropriate risks. As a result of the learning from the child missing from the home positive changes have been made to practice and clearer boundaries are put into place for children when needed. Each risk assessment or plan includes the children's views and comments. Children are involved in developing these plans.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

When concerns about adults have been raised, these are taken seriously. Quick management oversight has picked up on some aspects that were overlooked initially. Concerns are reported quickly to other agencies. Investigations are thorough and include discussions with children as appropriate. Senior managers were involved when a concern was raised about the manager. Increased support was provided to the child for a short period of time to ensure children are safeguarded.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

Detailed work was completed when there were concerns about one child's online use of AI. The concerns were taken seriously and shared with the relevant professionals for additional advice and support. A referral for specialist services was not accepted, and this was challenged by the manager. Information was collated to understand the wider concerns and long-term plans for adulthood. The learning from this has supported the team to be more confident with online safety.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

Restraint has not been used. Lower-level incidents are managed well so that they do not escalate. The use of an integrated therapies team has benefited children and adults. This has meant that the focus is on adults understanding the reasons behind the behaviour rather than challenging them. Children are responded to in a nurturing way, with clear boundaries. Inspection report for children's home: 2610709 5 Managers invested time in supporting the team to develop their skills prior to the new child moving in. This was to prepare the team for the differences of caring for a much younger child. The learning has helped the team to consider how to respond to different risks. The support of the therapy team also assisted the team to understand their anxieties and emotions about these changes.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Adults and children benefit from the presence of a consistent and dedicated manager. There have been periods where no children have lived at the home, or when only one child has lived at the home. During these times, the adults have assisted at other homes which has provided valuable learning opportunities for the relatively new team.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Oversight of the care provided to children is a real strength of the registered manager's practice. This enables him to identify any areas for development more easily and to ensure best outcomes are promoted for children consistently.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager is proactive in gathering feedback from the team and external professionals and actioning any learning. Including acting on any development points raised by the independent visitor. This learning is also disseminated within the team effectively.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Managers challenge other agencies appropriately when they have not met children’s needs fully. The manager is a strong advocate for children and ensures that they have what they need.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff supervisions are effective forums for reflection. There is an emphasis on adults supporting relationships with the children and with each other. Team meetings are focused on what adults need to do to meet children's needs. Inspection report for children's home: 2610709 6

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Recommendation

 The registered person should ensure that the reasoning for any restrictive practice or monitoring of children is clearly documented in their care and support plans along with consent from relevant parties and clear timescales for review. ('Guide to the Children's Homes Regulations, including the quality standards', page 16, paragraph 3.16)

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Information about this inspection

Inspectors have looked closely at the experiences and progress of children and young people, using the social care common inspection framework. This inspection was carried out under the Care Standards Act 2000 to assess the effectiveness of the service, how it meets the core functions of the service as set out in legislation, and to consider how well it complies with The Children's Homes (England) Regulations 2015 and the 'Guide to the Children's Homes Regulations, including the quality standards'. Inspection report for children's home: 2610709 7

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Children's home details

Registered provider: Phoenix Children's Homes Limited.

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Children's home details

Registered provider address: Support Hub, Unit 5, Chinon Court, Lower Moor Way, Tiverton, Devon EX16 6SS

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Inspector:

Nickie Doney, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children's home: 2610709 8 achieve excellence in the care of children and young people, and in education and skills for learners of all ages. It regulates and inspects childcare and children's social care, and inspects the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass), schools, colleges, initial teacher training, further education and skills, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It assesses council children's services, and inspects services for looked after children, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspector:

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Inspector:

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Inspector:

T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.gov.uk/ofsted

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